Telecommunication jacks are generally well known. By and large the telecommunication jacks of the past have been manufactured to standards required for analogue communications. This has allowed for communications paths which may withstand breaks in transmission of up to 100 milliseconds. However, since the world is changing from analogue to digital communications, a considerably higher quality jack is essential. In the digital world, a break in communications of 1 millisecond could produce an erroneous signal to, for example, a telephone switching system thereby producing undesired results. It is thus imperative to have a more reliable telecommunications connection.
The manufacture of telecommunication jacks, in the past, has also been labour intensive, and thus costly. The existing jacks have generally consisted of many parts and sub-assemblies requiring large amounts of manual labour. An automated method of manufacture, therefore, would be preferable to increase output and reduce costs.
Furthermore, the existing telecommunication jacks have been susceptible to corrosion by ingested contaminants from outside sources. The existing jacks have generally been manufactured with contact wires positioned at the bottom of a jack opening, with no protection to outside contaminants being provided.
The present invention is directed to providing solutions to the above-mentioned problems of existing telecommunication jacks. Firstly, the jack is designed such that it has a modular central core consisting of few parts, the jack assembly being performed by a continuous automated process. Secondly, the jack receptacle manufactured by the method of the present invention is designed to provide for the higher quality needs of digital communications. Finally, the jack receptacle thus manufactured has jack contact wires which are at the top of the jack opening, with the jack being enclosed by a plastic enclosure having a shutter to allow access to the jack opening; thus restricting the ingestion of contaminants.